he set the standard and brought from nowhere, from poverty, from second class citizens he brought people back up and out and gave them dignity. dr. king, we miss you. we miss your voice terribly. >> kimberly: that is it for "the five." bobby, thank you for the touching story. see you tomorrow. >> bret: the republican field is down to five ahead of tonight's debate. live from myrtle beach, south carolina, this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening, i'm bret baier. we're coming to you from the myrtle beach convention center in three hours the remaining five, republican presidential candidate will answer questions ahead of the south carolina primary saturday. one man who won't be there tonight is jon huntsman. who dropped out of the race this morning. chief political correspondent

carl cameron begins the coverage tonight. >> reporter: unable to generate momentum in south carolina after disappointing third place in new hampshire, former utah governor jon huntsman bailed out and got behind the front runner. >> today i'm suspending my campaign for presidency and it's time to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat barack obama. i believe that candidate is mitt romney. >> reporter: knowing it wouldn't happen he urged the rivals to stop trashing each other. >> the race degenerated to an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the american people. not worry of this critical time in our nation's history. >> reporter: huntsman's sliver of south carolina support is expected to gravitate toward romney. romney is seeking conservative trust and support, a move

reminiscent of pleas for conservative unity made by john mccain en route to the g.o.p. nomination last time. newt gingrich is running second? south carolina but the attack on the business record at bain capital, echoing what has long been a democratic attack on romney turned off some conservatives. this weekend he embraced another demand for romney to release tax returns. >> the idea you could run for president and not release your taxes is absurdity. if there is nothing there, there is nothing there. release it. >> romney said he would comply and release tax returns if he becomes the nominee. rick perry and rick santorum joined the call for romney make public concerns. with perry's campaign on life support he got choked up discussing his political future as long as his wife is by his side. >> fy had to walk away from this, if she was walking with me it would all be okay.

>> as in iowa, they urged people to ignore polls and pundit. >> continue to hang in there, be strong and run a good race in south carolina. be in a position in florida to do better and better after that. the stage has been set with one less podium tonight. >> reporter: most folks believe the debate will be a crucial and last best hope for romney rivals to derail him. if he pulls off a hat trick and go 3-0 in south carolina on saturday he will be comfortable. >> bret: carl, new ad popping up? >> reporter: specifically rick santorum was going to unveil a new ad this evening. then romney with equally unflattering pictures and obama as well and describe the record as one and the same. tough stuff from santorum. >> bret: thank you. the strategy for the candidate heading to tonight's event capture the undecided.

john roberts talked to them today. >> thank you so much. more than a third of the south carolina voters say they haven't made up or could change their mind. >> have you decided who you are voting for? >> i haven't. >> i'm leaning toward someone. i haven't made a decision yet. >> despite the candidate and debating and press coverage they still haven't heard what they immediate to say that is my candidate. tony is a small business ow owner. >> i want to know what they can do in myrtle beach to make them better for me and the other small business. >> the other big issue is family and friends worried about their jobs, lost them or can't find them. >> what do you need to hear? more focusing on the economy. less bickering. i need real plans. 9-9-9 was at least a plan.

>> army veteran wants something to reaffirm exceptionalism. >> we need a great idea. we have the highway program. the space program. >> why haven't they been able to close the deal with the voters? >> they have had many opportunities to speak out. the issues i want to hear. they skated around it. >> they are looking for substance, not sound bite. the moment that through a clutter of a campaign comes clarity. >> how will you know when you know? >> after tonight i'll know. after the debate is every, i'll know who i will go for. >> they not be quite as plugged in as the counterpart in iowa and new hampshire but the south carolina voters are pretty savvy and they know how important the primary is. still many voters say they

will remain undecided until they pull the lever. john roberts, fox news. >> bret: the latest fox news poll numbers on the national level show romney with a huge lead. 40%. mid-teens for santorum, gingrich and paul. perry brings up the rear. the chart is not far off. brit hume joins us from washington tonight. >> huntsman was an interesting case because on paper he had a lot to recommend him. successful governor in utah, he had an economic plan extoled by none other than editor of the "wall street journal." he is a handsome man. i met him a few weeks ago and i was struck by the disparity between the man i met and the

man i had seen on the stump. an attractive and charming man, very engaging. i thought wow! he is impressive. on the stump and the debate where most people saw him, he seemed disapproving of his rivals. almost a sour pus. that doesn't work. he seemed to be lecturing. i think he suffered from the unfortunate campaign persona. >> bret: who needs to make their mark tonight? >> santorum or gingrich is alternative to romney. i would help if they could break out or put distance between whoever it is and other candidate. be they are all going after the front runner. i'm not sure it will work. they may knock him down a peg but attacking another candidate is hard to do attractively. they both have to be careful

about that. i am not sure what the strategy would be to do what they need to do. >> bret: as always, thank you. >> you bet. >> bret: make plans to watch us tonight. 9:00 p.m. eastern, for the debate at the convention center. at matterral beach. i'll be joined by juan williams and kelly evans from the "wall street journal." many of you have been sending in suggested questions and we'll ask the clear questions tonight. the moody's rating agency decided not to downgrade france's credit rating. the decision comes following friday's move by standard & poor's to drop san francisco and several other nations by a notch. exchanges were only modestly lower and the euro held steady today. many americans have the day off with the martin luther king junior holiday. president obama and his family helped build bookshelves in washington. the president has long

advocated anticipation and service policy on the king holiday. congress makes history. but not the good kind. that's later in the grapevine. up next, sending in the top brass to talk about iran. have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromisen taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. trouble with a car insurance claim.

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>> bret: welcome back to myrtle beach convention center. less than three hours to the big debate tonight. now checking world headlines. the owner of a cruise ship that capsized off tuscany friday says human error led to the grounding. rescue operations were halted for a while today when the wreckage shifted slightly. six bodies have been recovered so far. 29 are still listed as missing. that includes a retired couple from minnesota. car bombs ripped through two iraqi cities killing at least 11 people. the first blast struck a district outside missourial. the second detonated in industrial zone 60 miles south of baghdad. 150 people died in iraq since the beginning of the year.

another increasingly top spot is yemen. things there are getting worse quickly. senior correspondent affairs greg palkot has that story. >> another down in yemen slipped in the hands of al-qaeda today. band of militants seized control of brada taking over the government offices and springing prisonerers from the jail. the town straddles important transit routes and link other town and areas south and east for the al-qaeda and iranian peninsula chapter as presence in strategic region. all >> all the officials are concerned to see al-qaeda is able to seize >> this follows the missiles from anwar al-awlaki. years and support of backing by the yemeni special forces.

>> also comes after a year of antigovernment protest, which targeted the long running ali abdullah saleh. critics contend while they have been killing protesters, terrorism is getting away from murder. >> they have taken advantage of the power vacuum and position in tomorrow armed forces. >> others contend that he is purposefully allowing al-qaeda and other factions to cause chaos and prove he needs to stay in power. he reneged on a deal to leave the country several time. >> trying to stay in power. using all the elements and tools he can. >> even if he does go, and new government is installed, critics say it won't have strength to deal with al-qaeda for implication and the region. >> election to choose successor for the outdoing prison set for next month. analysts tell to us expect more yemeni to fall for tar rorrists in the weeks and the months to come. greg palkot, fox news, london. >> bret: chairman of the

joint chiefs will head to the mideast this week in the latest reaction to the intense dynamic involving u.s., israel and iran. chief white house correspondent ed henry tells us what else is happening. >> reporter: fall-out continues from the attas nation of the nuclear scientist on the street of iran. with the intelligence minister pointing squarely to u.s., israel. >> they cannot hide the siner the hand saying that had nothing do with it or it was not done by the agent. >> the top u.s. officials by secretary of state hillary clinton on down condemned the violence. the fourth iranian nuclear scientist to be killed in the last couple of years. just as tehran edges closer to developing nuclear weapons. the suspicion in iran, israel delivered the hit with a wink and a nod. fueled by the government saying that government is not shedding a tear and white house pointedly not denying israeli involvement.

>> we condemn violence in ira iran. >> you shouldn't take this, we're not speaking for any other country. >> santorum flatly suggested that the u.s. was involved in the say sas nation and says it was a smart move. >> you can't assassinate people. tell that to allawi. we have done it. we can do it for someone producing a nuclear bomb. >> israel on the itinerary thursday for joint chiefs chairman general martin dempsey who is sitting down with the counterpart, israel would like to see a muscular response to iran. >> they have have to speak directly to each other, not nuance anything. that has the be as they say a frank discussions.

>> u.s. and israel agree to postpone long standing exercise planned for spring to ease tensions with iran, which has been building after the threat to close the strait of hormuz. >> we would take action and reopen the straits. >> the u.s. officials will also try to convince israel not to launch a unilateral attack on tehran, though some military talks say it may be the only thing makes iran nervous right now. meanwhile, diplomacy continues tomorrow, when president obama welcomes the king of jordan to the white house. >> bret: ed henry on the north lawn. thank you. minority leader mitch mcconnell is in burma tonight. he met with the pro democracy leader. last week, the u.s. announced it's restoring full diplomatic relations with burma after the government released hundreds of political prisoners. still ahead, a look at mitt romney's record at bain capital. but first, taking on the president over this month's recess anointment --

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>> bret: federal prosecutors in denver and baltimore are reviewing thousands of deportation cases to determine which illegal immigrants get to stay in the country, while officials target detainees with criminal backgrounds. republicans described the administration's policy as backdoor amnesty. supporters of a push to oust republican governor scott walker from office say they have more than enough signatures to force a new election. they are still looking for someone to run against him. walker has been countering with media and fund raising blitz. back here, thousands of people march odden the martin luther king holiday and they presobama administration blocked the measure saying it discriminates against black people. of course, that decision does not sit well with many people

in south carolina. another move by the president is also drawing fire. not just in the south. correspondent shannon bream explains. >> this is a constitutional crisis. >> mark makes is president of the national right to work legal foundation. one group asking a federal judge to step in and declare president obama recent appointment to the national labor relations board unconstitutional. they contend the president's decision to make those and one other recess appointment while senators were home for the holidays goes beyond the constitutional limit on the executive branch. and that the senate actually was in session at the time. >> this president said because they won't act, i must. i think what he said is i don't care what the constitution says here. process be damned i'll do what i want that. is a serious violation. >> they're relying on a january 6 memo after the president named three new members to if nlrb and richard codray to head the consumer

national protection department. it reads in part -- >> some constitutional experts agree. >> someone showing up for 30 seconds, hit the gavel twice and they are gone. that is not a senate session where business could be done and nominees could be confirmed. >> there is another justice department memo on the topic getting plenty of attention. on april 26, 2010, then solicitor general now supreme court justice elena kagan acknowledged the president's recess appointment power but added, "the senate may act to foreclosure this option by declining to recess for more than two or three days at a time." exactly what senate republicans say they were doing. >> senate majority leader began using the pro forma senate session in an effort to block recess appointment by president bush is suggesting they will work for them this

time around and president obama will win the legal fight over his recess appointment. in washington, shannon bream, fox news. >> bret: crews in alaska are preparing to offload fuel from a russian tanker near the harbor. it's half a mile from shore after they cleared a path through hundreds of mile of ice. a storm prevented them getting the fuel delivery in november. we will share perhaps the least surprising news you have heard this year. next in grapevine. including how much congress did not accomplish in 2011. as you look live inside, to the debate hall, we can tell you the count down is on. that is what we'll see momentarily. but it all looks good. stay here. jenna shared her recipe with sharon,

who emailed it to emily, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasn't quite the same. the recipe's not the recipe... ohhh. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup.

mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson. >> bret: now fresh pickings from the political grapevine. talk about a bad year, a "washington times" analysis finds congress had the least productive year in modern history. it passed only 80 bills. fewer than during any other session since recordkeeping began. in 1947. majority of the bills were housekeeping measures such as naming post offices and extending existing law. the paper looked at time spent in debate. the number of conference report produced. and votes taken. it included congress accomplished, lessened those areas in 2011 than any other

year in history. critics long proclaimed the "new york times" will be a liberal newspaper. now the editor agrees when it comes to the opinion writers. ombudsman art brisman writes in an e-mail for a spokewoman that the opinion based writers clearly share a world view that is liberal and antithetical to the koch brothers libera political perspective. he ads there can be little doubt that the times ownership and editorial page subscribe to liberal perspective. finally, iran morality police say play time is over when it comes to barbie dolls. police are telling shopkeepers to remove the leggy blonde in favor of government approved dolls, as you see here. one mom says her little girl is not a fan and prefers

barbies and says the iranian dogs are ugly and fat. our top story at the bottom of the hour, jon huntsman is no longer a candidate for president. he maid it official in myrtle beach. the move comes hours before tonight's candidate debate front runner mitt romney may face questions about his record as a businessman. chief washington correspondent james rosen takes a look at the paper trail. >> governor romney would like to give back all the money he earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees, over his careers at bain, that i would be glad to listen to him. >> we need to have more venture capitalism going on in america, and less vulture capitalism. >> romney's 15-year tenure as ceo of bain capital is a chief selling point for him and for the moment the bane of his existence. headquartered in the john hancock building, bain capital employees 900 people

worldwide. >> we started staples. >> published reports show bain gave staples less than 10% of the seed money. today, bain manages $60 billion in asset protecting private equity invest in the 450 companies. private equity means buying control of existing business and trying to enhance the profitability. >> i never heard of coming in to a company, destroying it and firing the employees and making money. >> you really can't survive in private equity without a positive reputation. and i would say bain capital as one of the best reputations. >> that is a beauty. >> when he first ran for public office against senator ted kennedy in 1994, romney claimed so to have helped create 10 and 17,000 jobs. tab "boston globe" which endorsed kennedy that year agreed saying the "review of romney business dealings offers support, albeit with some qualification for cornerstone of his campaign, his role in creation of more than 10,000 jobs."

>> we helped create 100,000 new jobs. >> that counts all jobs like staples flourished under romney's tenure at bain and the jobs they added in the 13 years since he left bain. a fox news poll showed margin of 54 to 40% regard venture capital background as a plus for presidential candidate. 7 of 10 republicans felt that way. only 38% of democrats agreed. >> bret: thank you, james. we have thought we'd give you a behind-the-scenes tour. this is a spot where we are doing the show outside. not that great. but over here, myrtle beach convention center. 250,000 square feet of pure convention fun. one of the biggest on the east coast. this is our access in. here is our pass. we'll take you for a tour inside. c'mon. ♪ ♪ >> bret: okay, this is the entrance to the stage. we'll get called out before

9:00. i will give a warm township the audience. come out on stage. show you around. hey guys, a little tour for the "special report" camera. this is the set. this is the auditorium. about two to 3,000 folks. juan williams, kelly and jerry with the "wall street journal." here are the candidates. there is an open space over here. this is where governor huntsman would have been. but we have adjusted and no more podium here. to the spin room. let's go! ♪ ♪ watch yourself. this is the spin room. this is where the candidates and representatives will come to spin people.

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neither is investing. [ birds chirping ] today, i am suspending my campaign for the presidency. i believe it's now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat barack obama. despite our differences and the space between us, on some of the issues. i believe that candidate is governor mitt romney. >> bret: former utah governor jon huntsman out of this race ahead of tonight's debate. we have new poll. romney widening the lead. santorum at 15. gingrich at 15. paul at 13. perry at 6%.

the real clear politics average doesn't change that much. it's still a big spread. you see few changes there in the rcp average. best described as a true conservative? rick santorum at 29%. romney second at 15%. in south carolina, the real clear average of polls, romney is 27%. gingrich in second with 22. bring in our panel. the questioning panel tonight. jerry sy, and kelly evans, "wall street journal." and my colleague, juan williams. columnist with the hill. okay, the countdown is on. we have been working for a while. talk about huntsman. how does it change the dynamics of this race? he wasn't a factor in south carolina. it narrows the field and it makes the choice clearer.

which guy will be the more conservative. huntsman muddied the waters. clear what the mission is. i need to emerge as the conservative alternative to mitt romney. >> bret: what about the timing of the huntsman announcement and how it factors in ahead of the debate? >> the speculation continues whether his father didn't want to fund the campaign or timing, expecting perry not a great showing after this weekend to drop out. not the way you expect the candidate to end the candidacy. a lot we didn't expect about jon huntsman including endorsement of romney. >> bret: juan, set up tonight. who is a true conservative? santorum comes out on 29%. there will be a battle for the spot. alternative to mitt romney. >> what is interesting about the poll is romney is second. i never guessed that.

he is on par, 15 and gingrich is 14. never guess he would be in competition to be the most conservative. what we are going to see is who will take off the gloves? santorum or gingrich. they have to make a mark right now on the man who looks to be on a clear obvious path to the nomination. if they don't do it tonight, i'm not sure they have a chance for florida. neither have the money to compete in florida. huntsman is not a player in the game. he is running to the left of mitt romney. the other two is running to the right. given the audience, nobody will vote for left wing candidate. all you say that benefited romney from huntsman's decision to retire is the state, newspaper than dorseed huntsman they look terrible. the popular governor's widow

was with huntsman and the attorney general was with huntsman. >> bret: jerry, we could lift a curtain a little bit tonight about our planning. we have been planning to game out what will happen. whether as juan mentions the gloves come off. as you look at the race, what do you think? >> this is an important point. if you look inside the exit polls of iowa and new hampshire, one of the interesting things you see that is counterconventional wisdom is mitt romney is a decent level of support among self-ascribed con seventive voters and evangelical and tea party supporters. he ke unite the party better than people think. it will be interesting to see if he uses it to say i am electable and the party can unite behind me. that is the sign of attack that we will see tonight. gingrich is saying it explicitly, i'm the only one to beat barack obama and only

alternative to romney. coalesce around me. romney has a good story to tell counter to that line. >> bret: this is getting heated on the trail. >> yeah. we have seen santorum be heated. it expect it tonight. a lot is at stake. it is interesting to see what comes out of this evening being anything other than the alternative to mitt romney. i wonder where is the support coming from? a lot of the youth vote that paul turns out would support mitt romney the same way. he can claim the vote. >> bret: is there a sense that the evangelical meeting in texas had any impact in south carolina that supporting santorum on the third ballot, do you think it moved the needle at all for him? >> i don't know. it's better than him not getting it. but we know what fractious

argument that they came around to him after considering other candidates and it's so late in the game, hard to see it have an impact. as far as we look at that, a way to pick up momentum. >> it's too late. that is the problem with the endorsement, it comes late. right now is 22-14. 22 for gingrich, 14 for santorum. a competition between gingrich and santorum for endorsement with the hope it would give a sense taken as a conservative state south carolina, but money would flow. if someone can merge as alternative here. we would see money show up for florida. >> bret: let's talk about ron paul. increasingly factor here in south carolina. people didn't think he was going to be but he is powerful force in this state.

all republican voters heavy military presence. making a move. >> mind bender. he is not supposed to appeal with people with military ties. there are people in this state with that. you are not supposed to appeal to evangelicals. a lot of people have that appeal as well. not supposed to appeal to main stream republicans. but he is at the 15 to 20% range at every state. he is standing in the way of the other guys coalescing a group of people and becoming a clear alternative. fascinating story. >> bret: do you agree? >> i go back he is getting support among people whose support didn't clear will go to romney and could go to democratic side of this. >> this is different definition of alternative to mitt romney. >> one thing that made this happen. trillion dollar deficits have a way to focus their mind on the government spending. you look up and ron paul wants

to do the most to cut government spending. >> bret: the countdown is on. you look fantastic. i want to tell you that. >> thank you, bret. >> you look marvelous! >> bret: see you in a bit. up next, brand new panel with more on the presidential race. keep it here as you look live at the debate hall. we're getting ready. people will start filing in soon. not yet, but soon. i find the omega choices overwhelming. then i found new pronutrients omega-3. it's from centrum. it's a smaller minigel. with two of the best omegas to support my heart, brain and eyes. new pronutrients from centrum.

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this is not complicated. looking to what made america great, the individual freedoms, contract right and sound money. >> if every conservative votes for we, we will win on saturday by a huge margin. it's that simple. >> talked about being the most

electable. why does he finish behind me in the first two contests? >> they called him a community organizer. i don't think this is the community he was planning to organize but it's working. we are coming together because of the guy. >> do you think if we change a democrat insider with a republican insider we'll get a big change in washington, d.c.? >> bret: the sites and sounds of the campaign trail. second panel. sam youngman, political correspondent for reuters. jeff, for "new york times." steve hayes for "weekly standard." i would be remiss if i didn't say my condolences on the green bay packers loss. >> brutal loss. congratulations for the giants. they could go for a while. this. >> bret: we'll start there. jeff, can you paint a picture where another candidate, not mitt romney takes the situation, where you are standing now with the polls and ahead of the debate. >> hard to imagine that. things have to fall in place,

things i can't think of at this time. the south carolina primary, don't get ahead of ourselves. in five days voters across the state are undecided. they want to give someone else a chance. at the end of the day, advantages that the romney campaign have are overwhelming from florida and beyond florida. february is chocked full of contests. the only one out there with the exception of ron paul. hard to get your mind around the fact that someone else could slow him. or stop him. >> bret: tonight starts the last stand. >> that is right. this is it. no tomorrow for a lot of candidates. every passing day the idea that mitt romney is the inevitable nominee hardens. a self-fulfilling prophecy. if santorum wants to stay in the race or gingrich wants to

right the ship and be the anti-romney it starts tonight. no waiting. tomorrow is another day with conventional wisdom. >> bret: to hear jerry point out the con seventive numbers in new hampshire. voters who were conservative chose romney, new hampshire, there is polling that he is doing okay. >> it's true in the national polls and true in iowa. less true here. that point jerry made is good one. i don't know if it's anomaly or says something bigger about him having trouble but a lot of polls are going in the other direction. if they are not enthusiastic they are behind nomination. coming toward romney saying this may not have been the guy i want initially and there were other candidates i want to run but they didn't run i'm not knocked over by either gingrich or santorum.

i am going to support mitt romney. >> bret: it is getting pointed on the trail. this is a romney superpac ad and senator santorum's response to it. >> santorum voted to raise debt lime five times and i crease spending in debt by $3 trillion. voted to let convicted felons vote. how will santorum beat obama? obama knows he can't. >> the politics of negativity not surprisingly when a candidate is challenged. he has a long track record. the super pac. >> bret: it's muted there but on the radio show, laura ingram show he said today that romney is peddling lies out there. it's pointed on trail. >> sit pointed.

he is feeling that. i was out for him for a few days over the weekend. i thought he had an interesting eremark. everyone in south carolina loved and respected strom thurmond. look around, everything is named after him and it's earmarks. trying to make it not as scary of a thing that there were earmarks. one hand it's sign of senator santorum's potential rise. the other hand is just, the romney allies are trying to squash him like a bug if he happens to emerge. voting for felons the harsh thing in there. >> bret: same to other panelists now. about the conservatives and the meeting in texas. is there a sense moving any needles here? >> i haven't seen it in south

carolina. that is because the vote is divided between perry and gingrich and santorum. you will see conservatives doing what huntsman did. look at scoreboard and the bank statement and said forget it. this is the guy. time to rally around the guy. i am not in love with him but he will do. the republicans will get that feeling. >> i thought the announcement timing was peculiar. >> bret: ticket to ride! >> a ticket to ride is a ticket to nowhere. it doesn't get him anywhere. why choose to do it now? the timing was odd. huntsman candidate tells us some things. the deficit between the elected officials in the country. you look at what jon huntsman candidacy was.

he worked for president obama. tried to run against him. he said he wouldn't engage in negative attacks but launched adcampaign with top advisor calling republicans pranks. last week he said president obama was unelectable. i mean mitt romney was unelectable. this week he says he is the most electable candidate in the race. if you want to know where there is a trust deficit that could explain it. they don't like politicians talking out of both sides of their mouth. >> bret: on paper, jon huntsman should have done better. >> without question. he should have. he is the governor of utah. to me he wasn't branded properly from the beginning. trying to be a new vessel for republican party but the old jon huntsman would have been better than new jon huntsman. i never got the sense he loved doing this. out there a lot on the road.

never got a sense he wanted to be president. you see mitt romney and you know he wants to do this. i didn't get that sense from huntsman. >> it's bad campaign. start off to show where you are different and move to where you are conservative. you do it the other way around. show where you are the same and move to general and why you are different. a tough loss for governor huntsman but the way he ran his campaign, ron paul is more of a player in the republican party than jon huntsman is. >> bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned for some final thoughts. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. >> bret: finally tonight, t minus two hours. be sure to join us tonight 9 p.m. eastern for the presidential candidate debate. the debate can be heard on fox news radio and streaming on foxnews.com and "wall street journal".com. don't forget to tweet me at bret baier with any last-minute debate questions you would like to ask. also, if you want to flo